Blyth's Warbler help, Wawushan, Sichuan (1 Viewer)

[Paul Diego]

We are torn as whether this is the nominate subspecies of Blyth's Leaf-Warbler, Phylloscopus reguloides reguloides, or the Claudia subspecies Phylloscopus reguloides claudiae. One of our mates also thinks it may be Emei Leaf-Warbler, but we set on Blyth's.

Appreciate any comments or confirmation on identification.

Location: Wawushan, Sichuan, China
Habitat: bushy deciduous forest on mid-slopes
Altitude: 1930 m
Date: 2 June
Voice: not singing but foraging and feeding on small green caterpillar. Also flicking wings one side at a time.


Untitled by BirdExplorers, on Flickr


Untitled by BirdExplorers, on Flickr


Untitled by BirdExplorers, on Flickr


Untitled by BirdExplorers, on Flickr

Thanks
Kevin
Co-Director
Bird Explorers
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[china guy]

Hi Paul - because your Leaf Warbler is posted up at Flickr it means since I'm now away from my home PC and its VPN connection, which gets me around Chinese state censorship that causes so many problems for us local internet users (believe it on not Flickr is considered a dangerous and divisive site for the masses - and often difficult or, as it is tonight, impossible to view) - so I can't get to look at your bird. Is it possible to upload pictures onto the thread - so us poor ol' Sichuan members can get a look

But will say this on Blyth's Leaf Warbler -
distribution info says that one of the races found in Sichuan is claudiea - which, by certain authorities has been split into its own species - Claudia's Leaf Warbler
Many birders in Sichuan almost automatically tick all their Blyth's types off as Claudia's

As far distinguishing between the nominate Blyth's and Claudia's - well I'd like to see a book that gave us decent plates for comparison.
At least Mark Brazil's Birds of East China - gives us plates and descriptions of Claudia's

PS - flicking wings alternately is a Blyth's habit


To fully fathom the wonderful world of Sichuan Phylo Warblers - a few of these B help.

 

[Richard Klim]

The Blyth's Leaf Warbler complex

Päckert et al 2009 (Acoustic differentiation reflects mitochondrial lineages in Blyth's leaf warbler and white-tailed leaf warbler complexes) includes preliminary distribution maps for the various allospecies within the complex. Abstract here. Although there's not free access to the pdf, the supporting information includes a useful list of samples used and gives a good idea of the distributions - note that one of the examples of P claudiae was collected at Wawu Shan.

The distribution maps in Martens et al 2011 (Phylogeny, biodiversity, and species Limits of passerine birds in the Sino-Himalayan region - a critical review) also limit reguloides to the Himalayas, with claudiae in Sichuan.

 

[china guy]

Interesting info Richard - according to distribution of specimens of the birds that paper classifies as reguloides (Blyth's), only 3 samples were found in China - and all come from the south of Sichuan - collected in the Zhongdian and Dali areas of Yunnan.

Whereas they managed to collect 17 specimens of Claudia's in China - of which 9 were found in Sichuan.

Certainly strong evidence for assuming that most of those Blyth's types we see in Sichuan are going to be Claudia's Warbler.

I was told that Jochen Martens was up on Wawu again this year - the poor Warblers must dread one his visits!!!!!!!!

 

[Richard Klim]

Certainly strong evidence for assuming that most of those Blyth's types we see in Sichuan are going to be Claudia's Warbler.

Yes, although there are probably still question marks over the exact limits of each form, it seems pretty safe to assume that any Blyth's-type encountered in Sichuan (except perhaps in the extreme south) would be P claudiae.

Sichuan is still top of my list of places to visit! Had to abort a planned visit in 2008 for obvious (multiple) unfortunate reasons...

 

[Paul Diego]

Dear Sid and Richard

Thanks for the very helpful information. Looks like probability-wise this is the claudiae subspecies. We still consider it a subspecies, as we use Clement's for consistency and because our birding software uses it and Cornell uses it. They still have claudiae as a Blyth's subspecies.

Jonathan on Hong Kong Bird Forum, just sent a link to a Danish photo site: http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures.php?id=listpictures&birdid=17529

The claudiae photos match ours exactly.

Although that said, if I were to see this exact same bird in Nepal or Sikkim, I would have no problem calling it the nominate subspecies, but such is the intriguing and esoteric world of phylloscopus identification, particularly in the Himalayas.

I will try post future photos directly onto Birdforum here, Sid, so you can have easy access. Is there anyway to download to Birdforum straight from I-photo? I have one mystery bird, which we are calling the 'jacana-like starling' from Dufu Park in Chengdu, which we have no idea what it is despite consulting every regional guide from India to Japan.

If you want to see all our Wawushan Photos, we are posting them to our Bird Explorers Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/bird.explorers

We got good photos of about 65-70 species depending how the warblers shake out.

Thanks
Kevin

Co-Director
Bird Explorers
Sydney-Bangkok
Phone: +66 2 513 0475
Fax: +66 2 513 0477

Bird Explorers Website: http://www.birdexplorers.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bird.explorers
Twitter: http://twitter.com/birdexplorers
Africa Bird Image Database (AFBID): http://www.birdexplorers.com/afbid
Email: [email protected]

 

[china guy]

Hi Paul - I'm afraid facebook is also one of those sites that has been deemed worthy of banning in China!!!!!!!! Saying that the number of facebook users is growing in China - but you just have to be using a machine that has software to circumnavigate the censors. But connections using VPN's and proxies are always slow and cumbersome!!!!!
I've no idea about uploading from I photo - but using the manage attachments button allows you to upload various file types.

As for mysterious Starlings around Chengdu - again an image I can't view - you have to be careful of two factors -

1- at the moment it very in-vogue to release birds (and animals +fish) as in the Buddhist type tradition of releasing caged animals to give better Karma scores!!!! In the parks of Chengdu you can sometimes run into whole "batches" of released birds - tame Red-billed Leoithrix running around your feet are the most obvious sign of this practice - but exotics outside their range also get released. On one of my trips last year a day's birding in Chengdu gave Black-collared Starling - which because this bird is commonly found in pet-shops and the new found popularity of giving caged animals their freedom is 95% sure to be a release!!!!

2 - pet-trade starlings get dyed to jazz them up. These also get released and can cause lots of ID problems.The popular color is red - and a little earlier this year there was an ID request for a mystery Starling from Shanghai - that we could ID as a red dyed Silky Starling. But they also get dyed black and the bills painted yellow to make them look like Mynas - which fetch a higher price!!!!!!!!
China is the land of fakes - even fake birds.

 

[Paul Diego]

Thanks Sid,

I suspect you have hit the nail on the head with the starling. At this point, if I were giving my best guess, I would say died reddish-orange, Red-billed Starling, but the odd thing (apart from it being bright reddish-orange), is that it was going between a treetop singing starling-like and then flying out to lily pads and walking around on them in chest-deep water (hence the jacana-like), although I have seen Red-billed Starlings, Rosy Starlings and Black-collared Starlings wade quite far out into water arounds ponds and river edges foraging, but I can not recall any walking around on lily pads. I will try to post the photos up here directly later today or tomorrow. Should generate an interesting debate.

Thanks
Kevin

(by the way I am Kevin. Paul Diego, if I remember correctly, was a rescued armadillo, who our friend who opened a Bird Forum account for us many years ago had at the time and was nursing back to health. The other day I tried to register as Bird Explorers to post the Sichuan images, but it kept telling me I was registered as Paul Diego. I can not find any way to change the username, so I think I am stuck with the armadillo's name, so there you go ;-)